question about picado

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lwoirhaye

Posts: 3
Joined: Aug. 12 2014

question about picado

I've been playing for awhile and I'm working on getting more fluent with picado.

An issue I'm having is that especially on the bass strings, when I play picado fast I get unwanted noise. I don't have this problem with descents, which I can play much faster with a clean sound.

I'm working on playing slow and noiselessly but also experimenting with flattening the fingers on my left hand to damp the noise... a thing electric guitarists do. I don't want to go down this road if this finger flattening is going to become a bad habit though.

Any insights on the most fruitful approach to working this out?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2014 15:27:22

Ricardo

Posts: 14845
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: question about picado (in reply to lwoirhaye)

quote:

ORIGINAL: lwoirhaye

I've been playing for awhile and I'm working on getting more fluent with picado.

An issue I'm having is that especially on the bass strings, when I play picado fast I get unwanted noise. I don't have this problem with descents, which I can play much faster with a clean sound.

I'm working on playing slow and noiselessly but also experimenting with flattening the fingers on my left hand to damp the noise... a thing electric guitarists do. I don't want to go down this road if this finger flattening is going to become a bad habit though.

Any insights on the most fruitful approach to working this out?

but not when you play slow? In that case you need to slow down and work on accuracy. Otherwise, it could be your anlge of attack. I hear some classical players that play with a straight wrist get a "zip" sound on the basses. That can be avoided by attacking the strings more straight on with the nails, by bending the wrist to the side a little.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2014 16:26:56

lwoirhaye

Posts: 3
Joined: Aug. 12 2014

RE: question about picado (in reply to lwoirhaye)

Thanks... working on accuracy is what I've been doing. I was wondering if there was some secret to damping with the left hand but I guess not.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2014 16:34:26

gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: question about picado (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

but not when you play slow? In that case you need to slow down and work on accuracy. Otherwise, it could be your anlge of attack. I hear some classical players that play with a straight wrist get a "zip" sound on the basses. That can be avoided by attacking the strings more straight on with the nails, by bending the wrist to the side a little.

I am glad you wrote that; recently, more than ever, I feel the need to adjust my nails angle whenever shifting from Trebles to Basses, and I was afraid I was doing something completely unorthodox and counterproductive.

It seems that the shape of nails that works for Trebles is not what works for Basses. Changing the angle by twisting the wrist is better than stopping to file one's nails between runs